Promise Rings Meaning

Promise Rings Meaning – The Meaning Of Diamond Promise Rings

Diamond promise rings have increased in popularity in recent years. Everyone from celebrity couples to young couples in middle America seems to have them. Promise rings come in a variety of styles and center stones. They can be given for a variety of reasons, but are mostly used by couples intending to marry sometime in the future.

The Meaning of Diamond Promise Rings

Promise rings are usually given as a symbol of love and commitment. They are often given with the intent of becoming engaged at some point in the future. When the intent is commitment and ultimately, marriage, the ring is worn on the left hand. After the engagement, the ring is often switched to the right hand.

This allows the couple to test their commitment to each other prior to making the larger commitment of becoming engaged and getting married. Couples can show their commitment to each other without rushing into an early marriage, which too often ends in divorce. With the high divorce rates, taking it slow is a good idea.

Settings and stones range from simple to extravagant. In general, these are smaller and less expensive than engagement rings. The most common stone used is a diamond in a silver or gold setting, but just about any gemstone can be used. Some use another stone in the center with small diamonds as accents. Some couples use the birthstones of the couple for a more personal statement.

Promise Rings Meaning

While they are most often given to the woman in the relationship, they are available in your local jewelry store for men as well. This is not a common tradition, but some modern, younger couples are doing this. These rings often carry the birthstones of the couple and are often engraved with initials or a line from a favourite song.

Early Diamond Promise Rings

The Scribbler ring was seen several hundred years ago in Europe. The diamonds in the ring were used to etch messages of love on windows. The diamonds were generally small in terms of carat, but were set in a way that made them sharp and easy to use to scribble on the glass.

French and English Poesy rings date back to Shakespearean times. These were inscribed with either a line from poetry, music or other messages of love. This tradition continues in promise and wedding jewelry, which are sometimes inscribed with initials, the wedding date or other messages.

Other Promise Rings Meaning

By far, these rings are most often given as a promise of love and commitment between a man and a woman. However, promise rings can be given for other reasons. One less common reason is in exchange for a promise to remain drug and alcohol free during the teenage years. These pledges are often sought during the spring Prom season.

In some families, they are given from parent to child in exchange for a vow of chastity. This is often seen in Christian families. The child is promising to remain chaste and to not engage in sexual activity prior to marriage. A ring is given by the parent to symbolize this promise.

Understanding The Symbolic Nature Of Promise Rings

Promise Rings are common, but not so many understand what they are. They are particularly popular with the youth and it is important that any persons considering exchanging Promise Rings have some understanding of what they symbolize.

So what are Promise Rings, and what do they mean?

Promise Rings are a symbol of a promise made between 2 people. It is usually not appropriate to exchange rings to seal any promise, or that Promise Rings may well not be the correct rings to use to seal that promise.

There are other types of rings which symbolize a promise made between 2 people. An Engagement Ring symbolizes a promise made between 2 people? An engagement has no legal force like a marriage does. It is just an agreement between the parties that they will, at some time in the future, get married.

And so an Engagement Ring is, in effect, a Promise Ring, except that it symbolizes a very specific type of promise. It is also possible to exchange pre engagement rings. These are also a type of Promise Ring, promising that the 2 people will become engaged at some time in the future. These rings are often exchanged where, due to the age of one or both of the parties, an engagement may be premature at this stage.

A Promise Ring can symbolize any promise, there are no formal rules. However it is important to understand that for Promise Rings to have real meaning they must be used only to seal a promise of a particularly serious nature between 2 people.

It is important that they both understand the nature of the promise made between them. There is no point in exchanging rings where there is no clear understanding of exactly what it is that is being promised, so before any promise is made and rings are exchanged both people should spend some time together discussing exactly what commitment is to be made between them.

Make sure both are totally in agreement with the terms of the promise made, that both understand what is to happen in the future in pursuance of that promise, and when. It is usually better that both write the agreement down and keep a copy. That way there can be no disagreement in the future.

It is possible to exchange rings for any reason at all, and this is often done. However a Promise Ring holds a more serious commitment than this. A friendship ring may often be a more appropriate exchange for many young couples. This signifies a closeness between the couple but doesn’t necessarily seal a specific agreement about the relationship for the future.

A common type of Promise Ring is one which signifies a promise between 2 young people to abstain from sexual activity until they are married. This is a serious commitment and properly the subject of a Promise Ring, or Purity Ring, as long as both understand what it is that is being promised. For example, what constitutes “sexual activity?”

A Promise Ring is not just for a promise made between 2 people. It can also be made by one person with “themselves” or “God” depending on their beliefs. For example many promise purity to God without extending that promise to any other person in particular.

So, before you consider wearing a Promise Ring, make sure that it signifies something that is of extreme seriousness to you, or to both of you. Make sure you understand the nature of the commitment, the exact details, and any time scales envisioned. Only then can you confidently go ahead and display that promise to the world.